Recruiting costs for the period
- Internal costs
- AED 75,000
- External costs
- AED 85,000
- Total recruiting cost
- AED 160,000
- Hires in the period
- 12
53% of the total
Cost per hireAED13,333
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Cost per Hire Calculator
How much does each hire really cost you, internal and external costs included?
Enter what you spent on recruiting in a period and how many people you hired. You get cost per hire, the internal and external split, and each per hire — in any GCC currency.
How cost per hire is calculated
Add up every internal recruiting cost (your recruiting team's time, referral bonuses, interviewer time, in-house tools) and every external cost (job ads, agency fees, assessments, travel and relocation) for one period. Divide the total by the number of hires who started in that period. The calculator also divides each half separately, so you can see whether agencies or your own team drive the cost.
- Internal costs
- Money spent inside the company to hire: recruiter pay, referral bonuses, interviewer time.
- External costs
- Money paid to outside parties: job boards, agencies, assessments, travel, relocation, visas.
- Hires
- People who started in the same period as the costs you counted.
Cost per hire examples
Three illustrative companies, worked out with the same formula the calculator uses.
| Company | Internal costs | External costs | Hires | Cost per hire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tech start-up, Dubai | AED 75,000 | AED 85,000 | 12 | AED 13,333 |
| Retail chain, Riyadh | SAR 220,000 | SAR 110,000 | 80 | SAR 4,125 |
| Engineering firm, Doha | QAR 100,000 | QAR 224,000 | 8 | QAR 40,500 |
Illustrative figures only — not benchmarks. Use your own costs.
Before you rely on the number
- Count costs and hires for the same period, or the result is skewed by hires that started later.
- Recruiter time is often the biggest internal cost and the easiest to forget.
- Cost per hire says nothing about hire quality — read it alongside quality of hire and turnover.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for cost per hire?
Cost per hire = (total internal recruiting costs + total external recruiting costs) ÷ total hires in the same period. This is the formula in the SHRM / ANSI cost-per-hire standard. Internal costs are what you spend inside the company (recruiter pay, referral bonuses, interviewer time); external costs are what you pay outside it (job ads, agency fees, assessments, candidate travel and relocation).
What should I include in internal recruiting costs?
The share of your recruiting team's salaries and benefits spent on hiring, referral bonuses, the time hiring managers and interviewers spend, and recruiting systems you pay for in-house (such as an ATS). Count the costs for the same period as your hires — usually a quarter or a year.
What counts as an external recruiting cost in the Gulf?
Job board and advertising spend, agency and headhunter fees, assessments and background checks, recruitment events, and candidate travel and relocation. In the GCC, many employers also count visa processing, medical tests and flights for overseas hires here. Our UAE work permit and iqama cost calculators give you the government fees.
Is a low cost per hire always good?
No. Cost per hire tells you how efficiently you hire, not how well. A cheap hire who leaves in three months costs more than a pricier hire who stays. Track it next to quality of hire, time to hire and turnover, and compare your own numbers period to period rather than against someone else's average.
Should internal transfers count as hires?
Only if you also count the costs of filling them. The SHRM / ANSI standard keeps internal and external hires consistent: either include both the hires and their costs, or leave both out. Whatever you choose, use the same rule every period so the trend is comparable.
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